In the United States, 33.79 million tons of food went wasted in 2010, at a retail equivalent of $161.6 billion. On a global scale, it is estimated that 4 billion tons of food is wasted each year, the U.S. per capita waste has increased 50% since 1974. Discarded food represents the single largest component of municipal solid waste reaching landfills, and it is estimated that 30-50% of food from supermarkets is thrown away in the homes of people who purchase it.
Much of the food that is wasted is a result of people simply not knowing what food they have in their pantries and refrigerators, or not using it before the food goes bad. Since most households have hundreds if not thousands of food items, it is difficult for people to keep track of what items they have, how long they have had them, and when they will expire. In addition, many people buy items at the grocery store that they do not need because they do not realize that they have the item at home already and they don't have an easy way to check their inventory.
In addition, often people have plenty of food items in their household inventory, but cannot easily come up with recipes that use just the ingredients they already have. Today's consumers have many different dietary concerns as well, from wanting to eat a low carbohydrate diet to food allergies, and prefer to cook items that meet those concerns.